Lets talk about the social aspects....

[Ayer2015]

So, as the game has progressed in age I personally find people have become very anti-social; groups rarely converse in DF roulettes anymore, and on my server at least hubs rarely have open conversation occurring either.

Why bother playing an MMO if there is minimal social interaction?

[Canadane]

It's been like this since Cross-world duty Finder was implemented. 1.0 had the social community, 2.0 and on had nothing ever close.

[Soupa]

Why not just go out and talk with people in Limsa or any of the city states? Usually they'll talk back.

[Ayer2015]

Why not just go out and talk with people in Limsa or any of the city states? Usually they'll talk back.

I have an FC to talk with. I just find the game at large was more social in ARR and HW. That said I have changed servers since that time.

[Alaray]

I just sat in a dungeon the other day for 40 minutes just chatting during some downtime since the healer's router possibly exploded.

Usually conversations happen when there's a lull in things going on, I don't type in /p chat besides saying my hellos and farewells unless we're stopped since... I'm not someone who can type while pushing my CD's simultaneously.

It's easy to be social if someone wants to be, plenty of opportunity to be social with your FC, Linkshells, and, at least, servers with RP on them seem to be pretty social if you go out and try to be social. That's how I've made a lot of close friends, over the years.

And plenty of whispers turned into conversations, just because someone liked my character or what have you.

If I, as someone with severe social anxiety, can find and be social in this videogame then so can someone who actively wants to be social in it.

[Ayer2015]

snip

More often than not I just end up talking to myself in DF.... not always, but usually.

[Vidu]

I have an FC to talk with. I just find the game at large was more social in ARR and HW. That said I have changed servers since that time.

So... you're actually part of the "problem" you're describing?

Because "I have an FC/LS/friends to talk to" is most likely the reason for many people to be less social with strangers. Just because there is no chit-chat between the 4 random people in your daily 15-minute-expert dungeon doesnt mean that everyone has become anti-social. Personally I dont recall dungeons (for example) being more "social interactive" or more random conversations happening in the open world (I've been playing since ARR beta).
As irl people have their groups they stick to - just because I dont talk to you while we're in a random duty together doesnt mean I'm anti-social. Infact it doesnt even mean that I'm not talking to someone in that game right now - just that someone being my friends/FC/LS. And you seem to be doing the same? Sticking to the people you know instead of trying to make new contacts - and thats fine, I dont see the problem with that.

Part of the reason we're not seeing random chatter during dungeon-runs might be though that by now most of us want to just get it over with. Its a daily routine you want to finish as quickly as possible - standing around, chatting slows the run down. Not really anti-social, more focussed on the game-aspect of the game... not the social-one. Most content is also so extremly easy and almost dull that it wouldnt surprise me if half the playerbase was watching some netflix on a second screen - cant really have a conversation while you're half focussed on the new GoT episode and half focussed on keeping that tank alive...
And why should I "bother" having a conversation with 3 randoms from the DF? I might very well be only there to get my stones - not to make some friends.
...okay, that does sound very anti-social xD I dont mean it that way and I always greet everyone during the runs I do! And sometimes there will be some chatter going on and I'm the first person to jump for that and include myself, but, at the end of the day I didnt queue up for the dungeon for "social interaction". I queued up for tomes or exp and thats my main focus. Real life analogy: I go to the supermarket to get groceries, not to make a new friend. But should I happen to end up having a conversation because someone asked me "Excuse me, but do you happen to know where the eggs are?" thats fine too.

Bottomline: I cant really see this "problem" you're having. And I dont believe we've become or we are anti-social just because we dont constantly chat with randoms and stick to conversations with our friends instead.

You also asked "why bother playing an MMO if not for the social aspect"? - well, maybe, because I just happen to like this game? Again, personally I also dont mind having a conversation (if I'm in the mood for that - seriously, sometimes I had a stressful day and just wanna do my expert quietly), but generally speaking you can enjoy this game without random social incounters. And why shouldnt you?

[Moomba33]

Personally I bought this game because it was a FF, not because it was a MMO. I started with a group of real life friends and we're often in voice chat.
I do try to give greetings and goodbyes at the start and end of dungeons and will try to respond to conversations sometimes.
However, I don't like typing in dungeons if I can avoid it because I play on controller and have to put it down to type. I'm also a slow typist and I find people in dungeons often don't want to wait around for me to finish (i.e, pulling a boss when I'm still trying to explain mechanics). So it's just easier to keep chat minimal while in duties a lot of the time.

[Cakekizyy]

So, as the game has progressed in age I personally find people have become very anti-social; groups rarely converse in DF roulettes anymore, and on my server at least hubs rarely have open conversation occurring either.

Why bother playing an MMO if there is minimal social interaction?

DF isn't only place for social interaction. You can be just as social talking fc while not talking to randoms.

[Alacran]

For the longest time in my fc i was ranked as a Knight Errant. Though it was just a made up title, it was one i liked the most as i enjoyed wandering around aimlessly as PLD tanking random fates for people. A few times i would find people trying to do their relic weapon fights (some step needed something they used to drop, been awhile) and a few cures, sometimes a raise would be all the help needed. Sometimes tanking a B rank mob for a new 50, or even just a simple explanation of some PoTD aspects. A helping hand is great way to break the ice, and may perhaps lead to a new friend.